1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to carts, and in particular to carts that are easily loaded, unloaded and transported.
2. Background
Wheeled carts are well known in the art and are utilized to transport a wide variety of goods. Such carts typically include a base having wheels at each of the four corners thereof. Three vertical sidewalls can extend upward from the base with the fourth side comprising some form of door for permitting loading of goods into the cart and retaining of them therein during transport thereof.
In the case of carts used for the transport of newspaper bundles, such as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,537, straps can be used to retain the bundles in the cart in lieu of a door. Opening and closing a door latch mechanism can pose a manipulating problem for the automatic equipment that is used to load newspaper bundles. In addition, newspaper bundles can vary in size and shape and pose difficulties for a single position door to retain them securely within the confines of the cart. However, straps entail an additional manual step in securing them together around the load. Automatic banding of the bundles after loading in the cart is also known, but this requires the additional expense and maintenance of the banding equipment. Also, the bands require a manual step in that they must be cut so that the cart can be unloaded, and there is the additional problem of disposing of the waste material represented by the cut bands.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a cart that can be easily operated manually or by automatic loading equipment, and that eliminates the need for straps or banding, or the like.